UN report: China became the largest Internet market

China is the world’s largest Internet market, with an estimated 721 million Internet users, according to the State of Broadband 2016 released on Sept. 15 in Geneva by the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development jointly established by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and UNESCO. The world’s offline population is concentrated in six populous countries—India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria—accounting for 55 percent of the global total. The report suggests that even as Internet access for households in developed countries approaches saturation, Internet connectivity is still insufficient to narrow the gap between the developed and emerging economies in such aspects as education and health care. A large number of economic indicators show that affordable access to the Internet is crucial to economic development, social inclusiveness and environmental protection, said Zhao Houlin, the secretary-general of the ITU.